Voltron: A New Hope
by blackhorse99
Summary: Decades after the Paladins have saved the universe, again and again, they, and their Lions, disappear, just when they are needed most. The Lions find new Paladins in five girls making headway in a Garrison, and the fate of the universe now lies in their hands.
1. Chapter 1

This is the day my life changes.

This is the day I prove I can be the best.

This is the day I will stand up for my dreams.

This is the day I test into Galaxy Garrison.

It is the best school in the country for any future career in outer space. This was an impossibly difficult test to determine the newest recruits to take over the control, exploration, and basically anything beyond our atmosphere. We've all had to register two years before the test, so they could run preliminary tests on our physical and mental health. Already, we've gone from some two thousand applicants to only a couple hundred. This test was on our core subjects, and I need to focus. Especially since until very recently, Galaxy Garrison was an all boy's school. Girls were making progress, but we had to give every ounce of thanks we had to Pidge, or as she was revealed to be, Katie Holt. When everyone found out that she made her way into Garrison, and was one of the Paladins, girls were given a chance to make their way into space. The journey has been long, and saying it was easy would be a bold-faced lie. I've trained for the better part of my childhood for this, especially since there were only three positions you could get accepted into, and Commander, the one I'd dreamed about since I first saw the stars, happened to be the hardest by a long shot.

I needed to get my head in the game.

Deep breaths Skylar.

You're ready for this.

Now, what is 4 times the square root of 7,000,000,045?

"Please! I was just admiring the grounds. You can't kick me out of the test just because I was staring out the window!" A female voice shouted from my left. I lifted my head instinctively with a groan, as did almost everyone in the room, to figure out why she was shouting, we simply didn't have time for distractions. It was the girl I had stood behind in line to register for the test two years ago, just aged, as we all had. But now, her fingers were running nervously through her long red hair instead of writing her name on the dotted line to change her life forever, and her sharp gold eyes were darting from the teacher to her paper and back frantically instead of glowing with pride that she had made it past the registration stage.

"I'm sorry Ms…" The teacher giving the test looked down at the seating chart. "Ms. Anderson. But it said clearly in the rules that you can only look down and straight upwards. You could be cheating, and that would not look good on our resume."

"What about all of them?!" The girl pressed, extending her arm to demonstrate that the rest of the class was looking up. We all looked back at our desks with a hurried anxiousness. We tried to concentrate on the test, but the girl continued her pleas, keeping our attention with it.

"Ms. Anderson, do I need you escorted out?" The teacher threatened. Suddenly, a wave of pity for the girl washed over me, and in the moment, I stood up, my head down in anger, palms flat against the flat of the desk.

"Maybe she was just admiring the scenery. Are you really going to crush this girl's dreams of attending this school just on a hunch? That's just cruel. And if the teachers here are like that, I don't know if I even want to finish this test." I slammed my pencil down and looked up with a disgusted look. The girl was staring at me in shock. I smiled in her direction, and the side of her mouth curled up to give me a small smile back.

"Me either." A girl with choppy green hair hesitantly stood up beside me, her face showing her concern, but she seemed sure in her decision as she nodded in agreement with me.

"Same." And yet another kid slammed down the booklet, his eyes a strange amber color, almost looking as if they were on fire with the passion in his movement to stand beside me. Slowly, every kid in the room was standing beside me, some still just looking to me for guidance on how to stick their point, or almost for a sense of acceptance at their action. One by one, the teacher's face dropped a little. When everyone was standing, she straightened herself out, attempting to regain what shred of her dignity was left. I nearly laughed but held it in for fear of losing respect.

"Ms. Carter.." She read from the list of names, before giving me a hateful glare. "What position are you applying to test for?" She asked, her face still red from embarrassment. Oh crap.

She's gonna totally kick me out. All this for nothing.

"Commander," I answered flatly, might as well do this the right way. I heard mutters from around me, even a few people move to sit, probably thinking I was legally insane.

 _Yeah, go ahead. I totally can't hear you. I totally am not offended by your lack of faith in the females taking their shot at conquering space._

The teacher's mouth opened into a little O, and then she smiled, her mouth wide. Oh no. Here it comes. _'Skylar Carter, you are forever banned from this school and all of its affiliations. Have a nice day.'_

"It will suit you well. You are prepared for it." She patted my tense shoulder, handed the girl her test booklet back, and went and sat down. The other kids started to sit down as well, while a few started to applaud me. I just stood there in silent awe. That was not exactly how I saw that going.

"Now go back to your tests." The teacher sighed, looking at her phone. I sat down in a swift motion and continued on. Now, I am even more focused. Let's go. I scrambled through math, science, and English questions with ease, and before I knew it, I was done, and I was walking out the main doors with the flood of other kids. Some came over to pat my shoulder and wish me luck on my results, and some gave me hopes that we would meet again shortly.

Seeing as whoever was coming to pick me up wasn't here yet, I sighed, and leaned against one of the nearest trees, away from the flow of people. I noticed the red haired girl walking out, and our eyes made contact. She smiled, and jogged the rest of the way towards me, dodging the masses of people that separated us. I rolled my eyes and laughed, shaking her hand when she made it all the way over.

"Hey! Thanks for that in there." She smiled again, tilting her head. "Oh yeah, I'm Cam."

"Skylar. And no problem. She was being a jerk, and I had to put her in her place." I said with a bit of an edge.

"I know, but you could've gotten kicked out too." She said, her face still confused.

 _Like I hadn't thought of that? Girl, you have no idea._

"It was worth it to see her face after I humiliated her." I laughed, and her laugh joined mine for the moment.

"It's crazy how they can kick us out, and we haven't even finished the testing part." She continued, her face showing her inner terror.

"Yeah seriously. And how we went from two thousand to, like, 250 kids, and when this ends, there will only be 100 who are accepted into our class. And only 12 kids get invited to be battle and flight tested." Another voice joined ours, the green-haired girl from before was now standing beside us. She spoke those words longingly, and I felt for her. I will do whatever it take to be in those special classes.

"My name's Elise, by the way." She continued, sticking out her own hand to introduce herself. Cam and I both greeted her with smiles. It made me even more anxious, to be honest, it would genuinely be terrible if we connected and then we weren't able to meet up in a week at orientation.

"Of course, like how those 12 are basically going to be groomed to be the next heroes of the universe…since the Great War started…" Cam bit her lip… thinking about how she phrased the next bit. It was always a strange topic, thinking about how the experts had been saying there was something special about our incoming class. Space exploration had nearly stopped, due to the invitation of our planet to more advanced peoples and civilizations, and with that, new enemies. We had trusted in the Paladins, and they kept us safe for decades, but they, and their Lions, were lost in the Great War that had begun about 20 years ago. We were at a standstill, and we, this next generation, we were being sent into the universe to fix the problems that had been left, and end the war they'd begun.

"Yeah, it's really crazy." I saved her from her train of thought, but she was onto something different by the time I finished.

"I think you have a good chance, Skylar. You know how to use power. You'd be a great Commander." Cam gave me a convincing grin, and I couldn't help myself but smile back. Elise nodded, agreeing with Cam, her hand finding my arm gently.

"Thank you, that's very kind of you to say..." I blushed a little. "What position are you two testing for?"

"Pilot," Cam said dreamily. "My grandfather had fought in the war as a pilot, and he's given me every opportunity to become as strong as a pilot as he was. After he died three years ago, I vowed I would do this for him."

"Engineer, of course. There are no girls anywhere, but one day I want my daughters to know I was the first female engineer on the greatest mission of all." Elise's eyes were sparkling.

"I think you'll both be able to get in for testing." I put my arm on her shoulder comfortingly, and I gave her a brief hug goodbye as a car horn summoned me to the drop off lane. My father sat at the wheel. His face held a depressing frown. "I have to go! Nice to meet you!"

"Hope to see you next week." Cam smiled and waved goodbye to me as I opened the door to my father's SUV.

"Who's she?" My father said in an undertone.

"A girl who also took the test today." I'm not going to try to explain the story to my father. He would have wanted me to get kicked out.

"Why do you even want to do this? Why not a practical job like a lawyer or a doctor or anything not ridiculous as an astronaut?" He started to yell as we drove. This was going to make the drive to the airport feel like ten hours.

"Because it's my dream, and I could make headway in exploration and-" I tried to reason.

"And die in outer space? And complete crap like that? It's pointless. You should be very thankful that it's a scholarship program because there is no way in hell I would pay for this." My dad sighed loudly.

"Whatever." I shrugged myself further down into the seat.

"Your mother also doesn't approve-" He continued, even though the conversation had ended. I just shut my mouth and put on my noise canceling headphones and cranked the music. We flew back home, a rather short flight, but I wished it was longer, then I'd be further away from the hate when I hopefully got accepted. My mother was at the door waiting for us when we got there.

"How'd it go?" She asked. I could practically see the feigned interest drooling out of her mouth.

"Good. There were a lot of people there." I said, walking up to my room. If I don't get into Garrison, I don't know how I'll survive. If I do get in, I get the rest of my life free from the people who doubt me.

"That's wonderful honey." My mother said robotically. I grunted. She wasn't even listening. I'm not even surprised. By hiding myself in my room for the rest of the week, I managed to avoid any more comments from my parents, until I hear my name called downstairs, different from any call down to dinner I'd ever heard.

"Skylar, come down honey." My mother's voice called out. Thoughts raced through my mind. Negative ones including horrible images of law school, positive of me in front of a ship all under my command.

"Over by the hologram machine, honey." My father's joined her. I couldn't breathe. But I have to. But do I actually? It might be better if I just die now. I can't go to law school. I run a hand quickly through my brown hair. I rounded the corner and mounted the hologram board beside my parents. There stood the holographic form of a male officer in a Garrison uniform.

"Ms. Carter, it's a pleasure to meet you. Now that you all are here, I will begin. I am Commander Bekon and I am the current headmaster of Galaxy Garrison." The man said, very welcomingly. My parents stared in shock, and I didn't blame them.

"Charmed." My mother faked a smile.

"I'm here today to discuss your daughter's test results." Commander Bekon continued. "Would you prefer to stay in the room for this, Ms. Carter?"

"Yes," I answered respectfully. I heard my parent's inaudible groans.

"Okay then. Ms. Carter, on your mental and physical test, you scored in the top 10%. Passed. And on the test you just took last week, you scored in the highest 20%." He read off of a paper. I almost died right there and went to Heaven.

"Thank you so much-" I started.

"And we would also love to give you the invitation of not only acceptance into Garrison, but also approval for battle and flight, along with 11 other cadets." He smiled. I couldn't hold in my excitement anymore, so I jumped and shouted.

"YES!" I grinned maniacally.

"Skylar!" My father scolded, and stood me still.

"No, it's okay. She has a wonderful reason to celebrate. Congratulations. I'll see you on campus in the next two days to move into your dorm and for orientation." Commander Bekon bowed, saluted us, and then stepped off his hologram board, cutting off the signal. As soon as my parents could, their faces dropped into frowns. I was way too high on happiness to even argue as they sent me to my room to pack. When I had packed my last article of clothing, I stepped out onto my balcony. The stars seemed to shine even brighter, and the moon even more luminous. I reached my hand out towards it with a promise.


	2. Chapter 2

My mother brought me to the airport the next morning. I guess Daddy-O couldn't be bothered to see his only child off to a prestigious school.

"Goodbye honey. We both love you, though it might not seem like it sometimes." She hugged me tightly before I entered security.

"I love you too." I kissed her cheek and grabbed my bag from her hands. I turned and took a deep breath. This was where it starts. Security had a long line, like always. It had only gotten worse and worse as the war progressed, as if every man, woman, and child could be a spy.

I was fairly early for the flight so I walked around the terminal, stopping every so often to buy a water or a small snack to keep myself occupied. By the time I returned to the gate, it was much busier. It was a commercial flight, but some of the other kids starting to file into uncomfortable airport seats carried bags much like mine. I definitely was not alone. You couldn't help but notice every strained smile or nervous fidget, everyone somehow looking scared out of their minds. I don't blame them at all.

"Attention, all passengers on Flight 238, we're boarding sections 5 and 4." The intercom announced. I checked my small ticket. It read section 2. I sighed. I had a little to wait. "Flight 238, we are now boarding sections 3, 2, and 1. Please have your boarding pass in hand."

I reached down for my backpack, full of snacks, my phone and iPod, a blanket and pillow, and four pairs of headphones. I got into line and began scrolling through my playlist for the flight. As the gate attendant was scanning my boarding pass, she looked up at me after reading the Garrison-issued ticket, her eyes a mixture of amazement and surprise. She handed it back to me with the words "Enjoy your flight!" on her mind, but "Good luck!" spoken aloud. I gave her a sincere smile, before following the people in front of me onto the plane. Thankfully, I was in a window seat. I put my thicker headphones around my neck, and tucked my backpack under the seat in front of me, my eyes never leaving the window, afraid I'd miss even a single second of this amazing moment.

"Is this Row 7?" My attention was unfortunately redirected to a girl standing in the aisle, blocking the flow of traffic.

"It does say the number right by your head.." I rolled my eyes, trying not to be disagreeable, but the girl shrugged her shoulders, pushing a strand of her blue hair back into place.

"Oh, I know, I'm just trying to make conversation-" She sat down next to me, showing me her ticket, identical to mine save for the seat letter. She was in the right place. "I'm Alana, and based on the backpack under your seat, we're going to the same place."

It took me off guard a bit, seeing as she basically had my outward-self figured out with only a few seconds of observation.

"Garrison?" I prompted, already knowing the answer, but entertaining her anyways. I lifted my hand off the armrest so that she could slide into her seat.

"Of course, that's where all the future badass females of tomorrow are going!" Alana grinned maniacally, pushing her bag under the seat in front of her and taking out her headphones, as well as a book that she put on her lap. I couldn't help but smile, keeping her gaze. She began opening her book, but gave me a supportive look as she settled in.. "I really hope you're training for Commander because in just the short time I've spent at the airport I've met at least 40 different boys and like 5 girls and they're all pilots and engineers, and I'm already on the borderline of being cut out from combat flight training and forced into flying cargo. I don't need any more pilots in my way. They let like… _so_ many more pilots into flight training than other positions."

"Well, I guess you're in luck then!" I raised my hands in slight celebration, and I saw her eyes go wide. I don't think she was expecting that and watched as the realization set in. She held my arm and squeezed.

" _Really?_ " Alana practically squealed. I nodded, and I could see how genuinely happy that made her. I didn't really get to react much more though, because the pinging of the seatbelt light distracted both of us, as it signaled our departure from the gate.

The flight attendants went over the safety information, but I only half-heard what was said as we all began excitedly staring out windows, knowing that when we landed, our future was going to begin. It took almost no time to turn onto the take-off tarmac. I kept my eyes glued to the glass and managed to knock my head into it when the gust of wind pushed us into the air. I heard Alana giggle, but her book had already enveloped her by the time I turned to look at her. I resumed my view of the window, but when we leveled out, I turned on music and drowned out every noise except for the sounds of songs feeding me good energy.

I think I fell asleep because the next thing I remembered was the announcement that we were 10 minutes away. I quickly packed up, and by that time, we were landing. Alana made sure we were practically the first ones off, mostly because she had no shame in shoving people out of the way and dragging my hand and the rest of me out of the plane. We rushed down to baggage claim to get our suitcases, and all the effort exerted in getting off the plane seemed to have no effect on making our bags got here faster. I waited for my bag, one duct taped with a neon yellow color over the handle so I could identify it more easily. It was the last one, even Alana's showed up mid-way through the line of bags. I grabbed it as quickly as possible and followed the sprinting blue-haired girl over to the transportation section. The bus was already there for the Academy.

"Names?" The bus driver was standing by the door, balancing a clipboard that held a sheet of paper with all our names and a pen. I threw my suitcase into the bottom of the bus as he checked in Alana first. When he got to me, I smiled and spoke proudly.

"Skylar Carter," I said clearly. The guy didn't even look up at me before motioning for me to enter the automobile. When I stepped into the center aisle, he spoke again.

"Commander?" He said, his voice containing a bit of confusion, turning back to look at me.

"Yeah." I grinned, and quite a few boys looked up from their phones to stare at me. I chose not to care. I knew this wasn't going to be easy in the slightest. So what? If I worked hard enough, there should be no reason I can't do what a man does.

I sat in the front, where there was barely a soul sitting, even though Alana had taken a seat in the back next to a girl with long blonde hair. I pulled my phone out, the only text was from my mom nagging me about leaving my room in such a mess before I went off. Honestly, there was no escaping her. I could be on the other side of the galaxy and she'd find a way to aggravate me. I plugged my thin headphones into my phone and listened to more music on there.

Trees and oceans and rivers and lakes and farms and countless other landmarks blurred past as the landscape leveled out into a desert-like plain. Soon enough, a group of buildings revealed themselves. Four extremely tall buildings stood out against the other ones. I knew immediately those were the simulator spaces that we were to eventually compete in. Phones came out to send pictures and brag to friends about how bright their future was looking. But the fun was over once we parked. Everyone on the bus pushed past me to get out. I managed to avoid getting trampled by hanging onto a tree similar to the one I leaned on when I took the test.

"Hey, Skylar!" I recognized a familiar upbeat voice.

"Cam!" I turned and she enveloped me in a tight hug as she smiled brightly.

"Skylar, I did it! I got into fighter pilot testing and combat testing!" She was ecstatic, you could tell from a mile away.

"That's so great! I made it too." I said softly, but the genuine congratulations was firm. It felt as if I could hear her heart beating fast. Or that was mine. Or a combination of both. A loud bell tone snapped us back to reality.

"Crap, that's the warning bell. We gotta go for orientation." Cam motioned me over with her arm as she turned to run. We found ourselves back into the sea of people headed into a central building. There was a large podium, so I could imagine this was where morning announcements, special events, and graduation were held. We were all standing around, waiting rather impatiently for this orientation. Everyone was a little on edge, you could see the shaking and the anxious faces. We knew how close our future was but yet somehow it seemed even further away when standing in the sea of mostly guys.

* * *

 _*Inside the Headmaster's Office*_

 _"Commander Bekon, you're needed down in the main hall." A secretary stuck her head into the office but found the man standing by the window, over by seven very distinct hologram devices, each a different color, each occupied by either an AI version of an original Paladin of Voltron, or a version of the Princess herself, or her advisor._

 _Bekon knew very well the Princess had been smart enough to leave her knowledge, just as her father did, in the form of holographic help. She happened to let the Paladins also contribute so that new pilots could be trained. It was a good backup system, and with the way things went, the universe was lucky to have the knowledge of the whereabouts of the Lions and the Castle and the other information no one else could've thought to write down._

 _Bekon had been speaking to Allura for years, but this was the first time she'd spoken about training the new Paladins. The experts were correct. This was the class that would produce the new five pilots. Unfortunately, they had to be found as quickly as possible so that they could begin to find their Lions and train. The universe didn't have the time to take to let them fully train first. These five would have to rely on their instinct alone. And Allura had assured him that this instinct would be enough._

 _"Don't forget, you can't force a bond-" Allura began, raising her hand, but was interrupted as the black hologram machine turned on, and Shiro formed before him._

 _"This is not something you can gauge by looking at someone. The pilots must be able to take on our new enemy, one stronger than we've faced. Our intelligence is updated every so often, and I know that the Galra is preparing their warriors just as we are. We can't settle for second best in a situation like this." The Black Paladin spoke firmly, obviously a warning. Commander Bekon nodded, and the two holograms disappeared._

 _It was time to greet the new hope for the safety of the universe, whereever they may be in that crowd._


End file.
